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the jewishspring 2012 / aviv 5772 • volume V • issue 2

A publication by the students of New York University

in collaboration with Hillel

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Aimee Mosseri

Editor’s Note

Rabbi Gideon Black

The Rabbi Says

Daniel Bronstein

JudaBlue: New Tracks, New Video, New Sound, But Same Soul

Noam Zeffren

Passover: The Time of Coming Together

Julia Levine

Homemade Blueberry Jam Recipe

Joseph Kamali

The New Muslims of Mashhad

Leora Silber

The Israel Experience

Stephanie Sporn

A Serendipitous Encounter with Chaïm Soutine

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Contents2

The notion of the Jewish people being strung together goes all the way back to the time of Abra-

ham. In the opening verse of the Torah portion of Vayera we read that “G-d appeared to him in the plains of Mamre while he was sitting at the en-trance of the tent in the heat of the day. He lifted his eyes and saw: And Behold! Three men were standing over him….” Was G-d’s revelation to Abraham boring? Was Abraham suffering from some sort of atten-tion deficit disorder? How could Abraham have the temerity to put G-d on hold?Rabbi Yehuda Loew, the great Maharal of Prague, offers a remarkable explanation for Abraham’s conduct. Rather than seeking to provide a reason for why it was justified for Abraham to interrupt G-d, he explains that Abraham wasn’t interrupt-ing G-d at all. He was continuing his dialogue with G-d through another G-dly medium – man. Abraham’s holiness allowed him to perceive the tzelem Elokim – the Divine eminence that resides within each person in a very real way. For him there was no cessation of revelation, only contin-

uation and expansion of it. The more access points we have to G-d’s revelation, the more spiritually sophisticated we are. In a similar vein, the Rabbis of the Tal-mud discuss when is the earliest time in the morning one can fulfill the commandment to recite the Sh’ma. The answer: misheyakir pnei chaveiro b’richuk arba amot – when it is light enough outside for you to recognize your friend from a distance of six feet. The prerequisite for saying Sh’ma – declaring belief in the One G-d – is the ability to see another person from up close! The Rabbis of the Talmud are telling us just how strung together we are. Before we can recognize about heaven and accept G-d’s kingship over us, we first have to recognize each other and value the Divinity that resides in each other. This I believe is the reason why we feel so strung together. Abraham was the first to find G-d, and in man he found G-d too. And Jewish faith is built upon the supposition that our reli-gious commitment is preceded and defined by our ability to deeply see and value each other.

A ball of string has many beginnings. Some are a long obvious piece here, a short strip there, a rubber-band or two, but in the end

you have a complete ball of string. Thus it is so when we share the stories of our culture. We start with a story here, and introduction there, and some-how we come out with entire narrtives about our origins, our home, our values and what makes us share a common bond and yet have completely in-dividual experiences. These ties may look different, but we are connected to each other and we are all strung together by the fact that we share an interest in discovering Jewish culture. Some of the things that keep us “Strung Together” are here within the pages of this Spring 2012 issue. There is a history that bind us, that we may recite or learn about during Passover, or read

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Rabbi Gideon Black was born in Glasgow, Scotland and grew up in London, England. In 2007 Gideon moved across the pond to pursue his rabbinic ordination at Yeshiva University. Gideon received his law degree from University College London, after starting his undergraduate studies at the London School of Economics. Gideon also has an MA in Jewish Philosophy from YU’s Bernard Revel Graduate School. Before college, Gideon spent two years studying at Israel at Yeshivat Har Etzion (Gush). At NYU, Gideon serves as a campus rabbi, representing the Jewish Learning Initiative on Campus (JLIC) – a program of the Orthodox Union. Aside from being a huge soccer and golf fan, one thing Gideon is more passionate about than anything is people. He is here for you anytime, so if you would like to chat over a cup of coffee (chances are he’ll order tea), or you’re looking for someone to learn with or you want to join him and his wife Aliza for a Shabbat meal please don’t hesitate to get in touch!

about that which has made us unique in the midst of other countries like the Jedidim. In here is also a special land, Israel, that ties us to each other where we can learn what is important in our lives. Here is the art and music that connects us to the past through impressionistic painting and to the future of our spiritual journeys through the voices of young men. You can even use your tastebuds to explore blackberry jam and the customs of other families that occur around spring time. We have matured and can take advantage of the freedom lent to us to explore our culture fully and to participate in Judaism in all of our different ways. I invite you to read about the ties that string us together this spring and look forward to hearing you share your stories that tie into the giant ball of culture.

L’chaim (to Life!), Aimee Mosseri

Aimee Mosseri is a sophomore at NYU studying the way art has and

does interact in our lives as she pursues her own artistic career in

Brooklyn, NY. [aimeemosseriart.blogspot.com][ ]

Editor’s Note

ON “STRUNG TOGETHER”The Rabbi Says

Rachel Jean Nehemiah is a fresh-man at NYU, currently exploring her

options in English and Studio Art while working as the design editor

for the Jewish Voice and aspiring to a career in publishing.[ ]

Dani Bronstein: How did it feel recording as a duo

after being so accustomed to the full band studio experience?

Shlomo: We got in the studio and immediately told Jake [Antelis] that we were ready to record and wanted to experiment. The stripped down band gave us that opportunity to experiment more. [Jud-aBlue was started with a full band of five]

Yaniv: A duo captur-ing the sound of a band forced a lot more creativ-ity from the two of us and made it a more intiate experience for us.

DB: How have your lyrics developed over the past few years and what caused the change?

Y: Lyrics are much more thought out and taken more seri-ously. Instead of needing a Hebrew chorus to do the ex-plaining for us, we capture the concept in English. It is not as outwardly Jewish, but it’s a lot more diverse now. My thoughts, wherever I am, always turn into my music.

DB: How did your time spent in Israel change you and your music?

S: The guy at the radio station in Jerusalem told me to stop with the fantastical and upbeat, and get real lyrics that people can relate to. Upcoming three songs are about the everyday struggles that we go through and how we feel it.

DB: How does your/Shlomo’s beard fit into the mix of JudaBlue?

S: [Laughs] I have always been nervous on stage. It gives me my protection. That’s not the reason I grew it, but now I feel less exposed.

Y: [Laughs] He’s like the old Matis. I like to touch it and find the secrets of Kaballah [Jewish Mysticism] [Laughs].

DB: Can we get a little preview or inside scoop on this “Change” video?

Y: It’s just a NYC landscape. NYC as a whole has been a source of blessing for us. It’s about knowing where your

blessings come from, up above.

S: Following a dollar bill around New York. It’s life. It’s a simple thing, but taking notice of it elevates it to a new level.

DB: If you could cover any contemporary song, what would it be?

Y: “Awake My Soul” – Mumford and Sons

S: Matisyahu’s un-released “Sunshine.” We’ve been in new situations, but “Sun-shine” got us back on

track. With “Keep your eye on the prize, you’re my golden sunshine,” we know that we’re in it with someone greater than us. He comforts us in our time of struggle. Not every-thing is always up to par, but this is all for the sake of the greater good.DB: Why do you think you and others relate so well to Mati-syahu?

S: The most precious path is the one that’s never been taken before, or whatever that poem says [laughs]). No Jewish musician had thought of using rap and reggae to express an identity. We appreciate that he is being real in how he ex-presses himself. He’s doing his thing. We always try to tap into our identities.

DB: What can we expect to hear and see from JudaBlue with these three tracks, music video, and for the future?

Y: The second we finish recording we’re ready to develop the next step. Music will reemerge at the center of my life after the army.

DB: What kind of music will come out after that experience?

Y: Who knows? Only God knows.

S: As we meet more and more people, our expression expands. For Yaniv, Dubstep has changed him. The sound coming out of his guitar is different than a year ago. Other sounds attach to us, and our sound expands. Our sound is becoming less and less defined.

It’s more universal and it’s a new side of me and Yaniv. It’s a new side of JudaBlue.

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new tracksnew video

and new sound but the same soul

In the words of JudaBlue’s MySpace, the band is “An epic attempt to bring heaven down to earth,” and with their YouTube channel reaching over 60,000 hits this month, I would say they’re well on their way to succeeding in their “epic attempt.” As the band, now stripped down to the core duo that started it, Shlomo Gaisin and Yaniv Hoffman, progresses, the message is only becoming more heartfelt and relatable. JudaBlue recorded three new tracks in January, titled “Oneness,” “Change,” and “You Are the One,” with Jake Antelis, who recorded their first single, “Modeh Ani,” five years ago, after they won recording time in a battle of the bands competition. These three songs are a new, fuller, more mature, and even more organic sound from JudaBlue. Getting out of the studio for a few years gave Shlomo and Yaniv every opportunity to show their fans what they’ve picked up in their experiences after leaving their home digs of Silverspring, MD and residing every-where from the old city of Jerusalem to NYC and Bangkok to Mt. Kilimanjaro. I caught up with Shlomo, studying at Yeshiva Uni-versity and teaching Jewish Mysticism in New York City these days, and called Yaniv, who had scratchy reception in the Judean Desert, having taken a leave of absence from New York University to volunteer in the Israel Defense Forces. We talked about new recordings, a NYC-centered music video, Matisyahu, defying genres, and beards.

band site: http://www.judablue.com/falling music video: falling music video: http://www.youtube.com/

watch?v=wYGCwOKK1xEproducer/mixer/studio: http://www.jantelis.com/About.html

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PassoverThe Time of

Coming Together, Z’man Cherutanu

der died during the plague of Darkness, so as not to embar-rass them in front of their Jew-ish and Egyptian counterparts. What distinguished these Jews from those who complained after the redemption in the desert? If we were to look at the reaction of some of the Jews who were redeemed, we might be able to understand why the punishments during the plague arose. The Jews who left complained to Moshe about their lack of direction and water in the treacherous desert. “A little more and they will stone me!” Moses, their leader, exclaims to God. The redeemed Jews were used to

Passover is a time to come together to celebrate freedom from Egyptian servitude, and give honorable mention to modern day freedoms we should never take for granted. Despite 210 years of back-breaking work, the Jews were miraculously redeemed from Egypt. While they generally maintained the slave mental-ity after the initial exodus, the Jews needed time to transi-tion their outlook into that of a freed people. Surprisingly, Rashi, an 11th century Biblical and Talmudic commentator, quotes the medrash that says that only one-fifth of the Jews who survived the Egyptian oppression left. The remain-

The holiday of Pass-over is one of the most common answers in

response to the question of which is someone’s favorite Jewish holiday. Yet, as many of us know, the food on Pass-over often leaves much to be desired. If holidays revolve so intimately with the amounts and tastes of the food con-sumed during the festival, what is Passover’s secret? Short of stating that food doesn’t matter in formulating one’s impression of a holiday, there must be something else inherent to Passover that draws the fancy of so many believers beyond the memories of home-cooked motzah balls.

God’s presence now. God recognized that bnei yisrael could not yet be self-reliant – while He wanted them to be independent, He saw that they hadn’t had enough time to separate themselves from their Egyptian mindset. God wanted them to create a community al-ways with the belief that they had help from a divine source. As we move into the summer months and pursue our separate passions, we should all appreciate Passover for what it teaches us about human nature, areyvut (kin-ship with one another) and our freedom.

oppressive experience as a pre-paratory tool for redemption. The people who died during the plague of darkness could not see the proverbial light at the end of the tunnel because they couldn’t recognize a way out of slavery – they may not have recognized God’s hand in Egypt to that point!A critical turning point of those who were able to leave was the fact that they were surrounded by God’s Clouds of Glory. At night, God led them in the form of a fire, as opposed to the darkness which had enveloped them during the plague of darkness. Even if they did not see in His Hand in Egypt, they surely experienced

the daily regimen in Egypt; they knew exactly when their cucumbers, leeks, and other such ‘delicacies’ were coming. While their time was not their own, they could be confident in a regimented schedule set by the pharaoh. As a result, they had little time to take a step back and look critically at their predicament. Taken from their habitat of slavery, Jews started forming questions that before their exodus had not been pressing – nourishment, direction of travel, purpose, etc. Only those who had lived through the Ten Plagues and seen the other side of their slavery could band together and look with hindsight at that

On Tu B’shvat I was in-vited to a beautiful seder at my friend Yael’s house.

She asked everyone to contrib-ute something special to make the seder more meaningful so I decided to bring a jar of my very own homemade blueberry jam. I’ve made other flavors in the past but this was my first time using blueberries. The seder was incredible. I met wonderful people, heard inspiring ideas and ate delicious fruit. When I finally got home at midnight, I looked in the mirror and I realized my mouth was completely blue! I had been walking around with a bright blue mouth all night. I was completely mortified. This recipe is really easy, healthy and delicious and makes great mish-loach manot gifts, just remember to check your teeth in the mirror after eating it!

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Ingredients:

3 cups blueberries, 1 packet liquid fruit pectin (found in the Jello section), and sugar or honey

Steps:

1. Pour the blueberries into a medium sized pot and cook on high heat until berries start forming liquid. Stir well.

2. Add in desired amount of sugar or honey depending on how sweet you like your jam.

3. Pour in 1 packet of fruit pectin and stir for about 7 minutes.

4. Let the mixture sit for 10 minutes, then mix again.

5. Pour into glass jar and enjoy!

This is a pair of marriage contracts for the couple of Yehuda son of Yakov and

Morvarid daughter of Nisim. These dual marriage contracts, a common phenom-

enon among the Jedidim of Mashhad, served as a symbol of the Jeddidim's

dual lives as Muslims on the outside and Jewish on the inside.

Matching Marriage Contacts. 1853.

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The New Muslims of Mashhad

of Jews to take place in Iran, the mass conversion of the Mashhadi Jews remains unique. The Jedi-dim represent the only commu-nity in Iranian history to remain Jewish after such a conversion. For the following century, the Jedidim maintained their Jewish practice in an underground com-munity. The four hundred Jedidi families who remained in Mash-had had to devise many ways to hide their Jewish practice, especially immediately after the conversion, when their new reli-gion was most strictly enforced. In the early days of the conver-sion, the Jedidim were compelled to say the Kalima, the Muslim confession of faith, by authorities. The Mujtahid, the chief priest of the local mosque, ruled that the Jedidim begin learning the Quran. In addition to this, the Mujta-hid forbade all Jewish customs like shechita (ritual slaughter-ing according to Jewish law), circumcision on the 8th day, the observance of Shabbat, and many more. One of the most threatening rul-ings to the Jedidim’s pursuit to maintain Jewish identities was the ordered mixed marriages between

The hidden history of the Jedidim begins on March 27th 1839, which was the

Islamic sacred day of Ashura. That day Muslim mobs raided the Jewish Quarter of Mashhad. Tra-ditional Mashhadi Jews believe the cause of this raid was a rumor about a Jewish woman who had slaughtered a dog in the Jewish quarter. Muslim men murdered some thirty to forty men until the leaders of the Jewish com-munity decided to submit to the massacres by reciting the Islamic testimony of conversion, the Shahada. The recitation of this testimony formally marked the conversion of the Mashhadi Jews to the religion of Islam. It was at that this time that the Mashhadi Jews gained the title of Jadid al Islam (new to Islam), or the Jedi-dim for short. The Imam Jomeh, the Islamic cleric of Mashhad, later named this mass conversion as the Allahdad or the “God’s Judgment.” For about one century follow-ing the Allahdad, the Jedidim of Mashhad lived with a double identity, a Muslim community on the outside, and a Jewish commu-nity on the inside. Although this is not the only mass conversion

In all my days of Jewish elementary school, high school, summer camp, and everything in between, I’ve felt a strong imbal-ance between education about Ashkenazi Jewry and Sephardi/Miz-rachi Jewry. It is for this reason, I have conducted research and adapted it as an article about the history of the Jews from my ances-tral city, Mashhad. This excerpt is about the development of the Jedi-dim marital and sabbath customs. It is my hope that other Sephardim, whose origins may be base in Syria, Iran, Morocco, Georgia and more, make more efforts to educate all Jews about their respective histories. With efforts such as these, I believe we can amended that imbalance.

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the preparation of two marriage contracts. One was the Jewish marriage contract, the ketubbah, written in Hebrew. The second was the Islamic Qabaleh written in Farsi with Arabic verses from the Koran. Each marriage contract was dated according to each religion’s respective calendar system. We can see primary evidence for this phenomenon by the matching mar-riage contracts found from Mash-had. Although a similar phenom-enon exists today where religious couples hold a religious marriage contract and a second civil mar-riage contract, almost all scholars agree that the dual marriage con-tract of the Jedidim was strictly a result of their dual identities.Another challenge to the Jedidim’s Jewish identities was the complete prohibition of synagogue atten-dance. This made all the functions that took place in the synagogue, such as weekly services and cir-cumcision ceremonies, illegal. Af-ter the Allahdad, the Imam ordered the Jedidim to demolish their

synagogue and to build an Islamic center in its place called a Takia and a water reservoir for its com-munity. Although this was a major setback to community gathering, Jedidim would still be able to con-duct services in homes. Jewish law only requires the quorum of ten Jewish males for services. Similarly the Jedidim balanced their two religious identities on Fridays, they would first attend the mosque and recite the tradi-tional Arabic prayers according to the normal Muslim custom. That same evening, the Jedidi men would secretly gather in hiding for services in Jedidi homes. Because it was considered against the law for men to enter a stranger’s home in which there were women, the Jedidim would have women sit beside the front door to dissuade any Muslims from entering. If there was a raid of a home, the women would be able to warn the men inside before the police would enter. These underground synagogues

Jedidim and Muslims. Immedi-ately after the Allahdad, many Jewish girls were taken as wives by Muslim men. The Jedidim took precautions to refrain from inter-marriage. Because early arranged marriage was a common practice, Jedidim were able to betroth their daughters at early ages anywhere from the ages of five to eleven. Sometimes, extra-cautious parents would betroth their daughter at birth. This was vital in keeping the Jedidim and original Muslims separate. In contrast Jedidim could celebrate small ceremonies approaching the wedding in public because many of these traditional ceremonies were similar to Muslim celebratory ceremonies. For example, ceremo-nies like the Shirni Khoran (Eating of Sweets), and Henna Bandan (Henna Tying), were both common to Muslims and Jews. Jedidim would even invite Muslim musi-cians to play for the guests at both of these ceremonies.The marriage ceremony itself was somewhat more complex. The first issue involved was choosing the date of the wedding. In both the Muslim and Jewish calendars, there are certain time periods when it is prohibited to wed. According to Jewish law it is prohibited to get married during the Omer days be-tween the holidays of Pesach and Shavuot and the seventeen days between the seventeenth of Tam-muz till the Ninth of Av. Accord-ing to Muslim Law, weddings may not take place during the daytime of the months of Ramadan and Muharram. After nightfall how-ever, marriages are permitted. The Jedidim had to abide by both these sets of law. Because the chuppa ceremony is the most visibile Jewish marriage ritual, the Jedidim would usually conduct this ritual in the privacy of the bride’s home with very few guests. The Rabbi would recite the seven blessings over the wine like the usual chuppah ceremony. After the private chuppah ceremony, a public banquet took place. The most interesting aspect of the marriage ceremony however was

circumvent other prohibitions of Jewish observance besides mar-riage ceremonies and synagogue attendance. Circumcision was not as large of an issue for the Jedidim because circumcision ceremo-nies usually took place in a small gathering in the privacy of one’s home. Regarding kashrut, the Jew-ish dietary laws, Jedidim would go to the public market place to buy halal meat only to appear like they were eating non-kosher meat. On their way home however, some would give the halal meat to beg-gars. Shechita, the kosher ritual slaughtering, was performed in the privacy of the Idgah, the Jewish Quarter. Similar arrangements were made regarding matzot. The women would bake the matzot in the homes. The Jedidim would purchase bread from the market place during the holiday. On their way homes they would similarly distribute it to beggars and contin-ue eating Matzah in their homes. Not surprisingly, the Jedidim also had a method to hide their obser-vance of the Sabbath. Because they had to keep their businesses open, a prohibition during the Jew-ish Sabbath, the Jedidim devised ways to ensure no sales would take place on Saturdays. The father who owned the shop would leave his son at the counter of the store. If any customers came in to purchase an item, the boy would answer that his father was away or that the wanted item was no longer in stock. If it was a fruit store, for example, the owner would place the most rotten fruits on display and charge unreasonable prices. With western Jewish inter-vention and the establishment of Alliance Israelite schools in Iran in 1898, the overall treatment of the Iranian Jewish minority be-gan to improve. With the rise of the Pahlavi Dynasty in 1925, the Jedidim no longer had to hide their Jewish identities. This was due to the Pahlavi policy of secular-ism which lifted many religious restrictions. Slowly, but surely, the Jedidim were able to reveal their true identities once again. For a more detailed version of this

article including all citations, feel free to email Joe at joekamali@gmail.com. Here is the excerpt for the web: “There is also proof that Jedidim were able to travel to the Wailing Wall and pray in Jeru-salem. Jedidim were constantly urged by the Muslim leaders to undertake pilgrimages to Mecca. Documented evidence for this is found on the many ketubbot that are signed by men with the title of Hajji so and so. The title Hajji is the prefix to the name of one who had made a pilgrimage to Mecca (My great grandfather was one of them!). Today, we have a list of fifty seven Jedidim with the title of Hajji, twenty one with the title Karbelai, and two Sheikhs. Like a Hajji who has gone to Mecca, a Karbelai is one who makes a pilgrimage to the Karbalah, a holy site sixty miles south of Baghadad. A Sheikh is a head of a Muslim establishment such as a school. Many of these Jedidim who trav-elled to Mecca, used this as an opportunity to make a detour to Palestine. “Similar techniques were used to circumvent other prohibi-tions of Jewish observance besides marriage ceremonies and syna-gogue attendance. Circumcision was not as large of an issue for the Jedidim because circumcision ceremonies usually took place in a small gathering in the privacy of one’s home. Regarding kashrut, the Jewish dietary laws, Jedidim would go to the public market place to buy halal meat only to appear like they were eating non-kosher meat. On their way home however, some would give the halal meat to beggars. Shechita, the kosher ritual slaughtering, was performed in the privacy of the Idgah, the Jewish Quarter. Similar arrangements were made regard-ing matzot. The women would bake the matzot in the homes. The Jedidim would purchase bread from the market place during the holiday. On their way homes they would similarly distribute it to beggars and continue eating Mat-zah in their homes.

never remained in one place too long. Another problem arose when the sons of a deceased Jedidi were required to recite the mourner’s kaddish one year after the death of his parent. Because the reciting of this prayer required the gathering of ten or more men, the community leaders decided the home of the deceased would become a make-shift synagogue on Saturdays for a full year. The making of these underground synagogues allowed for frequent gather-ings where com-munity leaders and Rabbis could edu-cate their constitu-ents. The Jedidim used these miniature phylacteries (tefil-

lin) to hide them under their head dresses. There is also proof that Jedidim were able to travel to the Wail-ing Wall and pray in Jerusalem. Jedidim were constantly urged by the Muslim leaders to undertake pilgrimages to Mecca. Document-ed evidence for this is found on the many ketubbot that are signed by men with the title of Hajji so and so. The title Hajji is the prefix to the name of one who had made a pilgrimage to Mecca (My great grandfather was one of them!). Today, we have a list of fifty seven Jedidim with the title of Hajji, twenty one with the title Karbelai, and two Sheikhs. Like a Hajji who has gone to Mecca, a Karbelai is one who makes a pilgrimage to the Karbalah, a holy site sixty miles south of Baghadad. A Sheikh is a head of a Muslim establishment such as a school. Many of these Jedidim who travelled to Mecca, used this as an opportunity to make a detour to Palestine. Similar techniques were used to

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and all different opinions behind these laws. I was finally interested and constantly engaged in class dis-cussions. I even set a time with my teacher to look further into certain laws that we did not have time to go over in class. This truly gave me an appreciation for Torah that I never thought I could have. In Israel, the teachers and the Rabbis would always say that college would be more difficult to keep up your Jewish Studies. I thought that it would not be hard for me because I became so used to learning everyday in Israel so I would just continue it when I got home. Sadly, I was mistaken. Secular college is a whole different world. For the first time in my life I am not learning Torah on a daily basis. The four classes I take last only about an hour each, which

leaves me a lot of free time. Usually during this time

I like to take a nap to make up for all my lost sleep from working hard the night before. Sometimes I have meetings with my professors, other times I like to meet up with friends who I do not normally get to see ev-eryday. It is hard to squeeze learn-ing into my schedule when it is not forced on me, or part of my daily routine. I always heard about the Thursday night Mishmar at the Bronfman center, but never really looked into it. I always had other plans or work to do. This past Thursday night I decided to can-cel all my plans and try it out for once. Two of my Rabbis from my high school came to give a shiur to anyone who was interested. We spoke about laws from this past weeks’ parsha , more specifically

the laws of shaatnez and which is worse; eating human flesh or eating non kosher. Not only were the top-ics intriguing, but it reminded me of how much I missed learning for the sake of learning. It was such a daily routine for me in the past 17 years of my life. I truly feel as if something is missing from my daily activities when I do not attempt to open a sefer or learn something new related to the study of Torah. Throughout all my years of struggle with Torah I came to the conclu-sion that it needs to be a part of me. Torah gives me meaning to my life and constructs a path in which I want to follow. I realized that the opportunity to be involved with To-rah learning is there, you just have to WANT it and take advantage, and I realized after last Thursday night’s Mishmar that I indeed want it. I will continue to make the effort to keep it in my life because for me Torah is more than just the learning, it was a path of life I loved.

I grew up in Teaneck in a modern orthodox household, went to Yavneh Academy day school

for ten years, The Frisch yeshiva high school for four yeas, and the seminary Midreshet Lindenbaum in Israel for one year. Finding time to learn Torah has never been difficult for me. Up until this year, half of my days if not my entire days were devoted to the study of Torah. When I was younger I learned Judaic Studies because I had to. I never really enjoyed learn-ing Chumash or Navi, sometimes I even saw it as a burden. I was learning something that was not written in my first language and I did not see a connection of the To-rah to my life. I constantly thought to myself, Why do I care to learn the stories of people I never met? How is all of this stuff this relevant to me? How is this going to help me in my life? Why can’t I just learn the things I am interested in? So for most of my elementary school years I sat in silence in my Hebrew

classes. I tried to listen and take notes of things that seemed slightly interesting, but always found my-self staring at the clock, counting down the seconds when class would be over and I would be free. I could have been immature but these feelings stuck with me throughout high school. I thought that since I got older I would see things in a different light than in elementary school, but I just could not do it. None of my Judaic Stud-ies classes seemed interesting to me. Everyone would speak about going to Israel for the year and how it was the best experience for them and it was such a plus that there was the opportunity to learn Torah all day. I would always say, “Why is that a plus? Who wants to sit and learn all day long?” After many intense and long arguments with my parents, I decided to go to Israel for the year. I was going to Midreshet Lindenbaum also known as Brov-enders, which is located in Talpiyot

in Jerusalem. I got a little excited because I was able to choose the classes I wanted to take. For the first time in my life I had the option of picking what interests me and was not forced to learn things I did not want to learn. Some of the classes seemed interesting but I did not know what to expect. When I got to Israel I was immediately over-whelmed with the hours of learning that was required. I thought that I would have to go home because I would not be able to handle it. I took a deep breath and tried to al-low myself to enjoy the classes. There was one class in particular that inspired me. It was called “Women and Halacha.” This class was perfect, it was Torah for me! We learned things such as the laws behind women covering their hair when they are married, “shomer negiah” and if women can make Kiddush and havdalah . We looked at the sources, reasoning,

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1893 in Belarus, which was then part of the Russian Empire. He grew up in an orthodox Jewish household, where his interest in drawing was rejected by his own

family. His brothers would beat him, and his parents forbid him to draw, as it was not a traditional Jewish pursuit. Re-belling against his family’s desires, Soutine enrolled in the Academy of Fine Arts in Vilnus, Lithu-ania, and in 1913, he moved to Paris to live in Montparnasse at La Ruche, the notorious location for struggling artists. There he became friends with other Jewish artists, includ-ing Amadeo Mo-digliani, a Sephardic Italian immigrant. Using vivid colors and distorted propor-tions, Soutine’s tor-tured past and Jew-ish heritage became evident in his fauvist and cubist works. Like other Eastern European Jews, Soutine possessed a

sense of hopelessness that can be attributed to being an expatriate. Instead of complying with social convention, these art-ists would express their frustration through bold lines and colors. Soutine faced immense poverty in Paris, and eventually he moved to the South of France in the Pyr-enees where he painted several of his famous landscapes. When Modigliani died unexpectedly in 1920, Soutine suffered tre-mendously psychologically. He continued to paint raw and emo-tional still lives however, and in the late 1920s and 1930s, Albert

Barnes, a wealthy American collec-tor, discovered and bought several of Soutine’s creations. Once a shtetl yeshiva boy, Soutine had blossomed into a stylized French painter. Although his works are seemingly primitive, they elicit a mysteri-ous quiet power that makes each spectator feel his inner disturbance. Every tree is being weighed down or pulled in different directions, and it is clear that the chaotic land-scapes and pensive yet emotional portraits are the embodiment of his psychological tumult. From being a young immigrant, to struggling artist, to dodging the Nazi Occupa-tion in Champigny-sur-Veuldre and other provincial towns, we see that Soutine suffered immensely as a European Jew, and unfortunately, this was the tragic fate of many others during the Holocaust. Between poverty, a lack of support from his family, failed relation-ships, and religious oppression, the

artist suffered depression and even attempted suicide. His art was considered as bizarre as his behav-ior, after all, under violent rages, he would destroy his own works. Despite such instability however, Soutine had a fearless commit-ment to painting and experimenting with shape, texture, and color over content. In his iconic painting, Le Boeuf écorché, Soutine kept an animal carcass in his studio for days disregarding the complaints of his neighbors for the stench. Upon viewing one of the ten pieces from this series, you cannot help but feel Soutine’s visceral devotion. While there is deep profoundness in the beauty of Monet’s impres-sionist water lilies, Soutine’s grue-some works inspired me to find depth in the seemingly ugly. Sou-tine’s art not only paved the way for abstract expressionism but also painted an everlasting image of the twentieth century tortured Euro-pean Jewish immigrant.

A Serendipitous

Encounter with

Chaïm Soutine

In a rusty red room, I stared digesting the distorted portraits, still lives of bloody carcasses, landscapes of trees swaying so far over they looked like they would snap with as much air as it would take to release the petals from a dandelion. This room’s mood could not have contrasted that of Monet’s any more, yet putting the somberness and disturbance aside, I realized what had instantly touched me about the artist: his passion and yearning to communicate his life struggles through the canvas. Chaïm Soutine was born in

led me straight to the Musée de l’Orangerie. 360 degree Monet nymphéa paintings, here I come! Making my way hast-ily through the museum, I finally found the eight massive paintings I had waited my whole life to see. They were everything I hoped for, enchanting with their soft and fantasy-like colors, delicate flow-ers, and passionate brushwork. Yet one painter who caught my eye was not Monet, Degas, nor Renoir, it was a far less traditional painter only a few rooms before the pastel lilies.

Studying abroad in Paris has exceeded every expectation of mine, and between the

architecture, gardens, and art, I cannot take a step without feeling the aesthetical beauty surrounding me. I got a taste of Paris during a three-week summer program, but I would say those three weeks simply prompted my curiosity and hunger to discover the city in a deeper sense. As an art history lover, I could not wait to see every painting I’ve read or studied about in person, and although cliché, my passion for impressionism